CC Sabathia: ‘Going To Try To Play 5 Or 6 More Years’

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The bad news is that CC Sabathia had season-ending knee surgery last month. The good news is that it was of the arthroscopic variety – as opposed to the micro-fracture variety – which means Sabathia should be healthy and ready to go next season.

“I’m doing pretty good,” Sabathia said on The Morning Show. “The surgery was only a scope, so they went in and cleaned some debris out. I had a cyst in the back of my knee that was causing a little problem, so they went in there and cleaned that out, and I had a bone spur next to my ACL that the doctor found that may have been causing the problem. So he went in and shaved that down and I’ve been feeling a lot better. Hopefully moving forward I can just start rehabbing and get ready to go for next year.”

Sabathia, 34, has had a rough go of it each of the last two seasons. After being one of the most dominant pitchers in the game for the better part of a decade, Sabathia struggled in 2013, going 14-13 with a career-worst 4.78 ERA. He was even worse this season, going 3-4 with a 5.28 ERA in eight starts.

But hopefully the surgery can solve a few problems next season – or maybe even this season, if Sabathia has his way.

“I think by the end of September I should be throwing and just cranking it up – just in case,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen with the race. I’m (getting) a stem-cell procedure in two weeks, and after that I’ll be able to do a normal rehab and start getting ready. By the end of September, I should be up and throwing and know how it’s going to feel.”

The Yankees (61-57 entering play Aug. 13) are seven games back of Baltimore in the AL East and two-and-a-half games back of Detroit for the second Wild Card spot.

Although it’s unlikely that Sabathia returns this year, he’s hoping for several more productive seasons in the Bronx. Tiki Barber asked how many more years he would like to play. Sabathia is signed through 2016, and the Yankees have a $27 million option in 2017 with a $5 million buy-out.

“You know what? If you would’ve asked me that before I got hurt, I would’ve said maybe until the end of this contract,” Sabathia said. “But since I’ve been sitting around and not playing and kind of missing the game, I’m going to try to play five or six more years hopefully.”

Brandon Tierney asked Sabathia if he’s given any thought to 300 wins. Sabathia won 75 games in his first four seasons with New York, including 60 in his first three, and is sitting on 208 for his career. Sabathia probably would have been a lock for 300 wins had he spent his entire career with the Yankees, but at this point, it’s probably a long shot.

“There’s not many guys that can do it,” Sabathia said. “I just think you have to be lucky and so many things have to go right for you to get 300 wins. But it’s something I hadn’t even really thought about. That’s such a tough thing to do. For me, coming in every year I just wanted to stay healthy, just try to make all my starts. This (surgery) is a big setback for me, but I always just try to set the goal to stay healthy and the numbers and things will be there. They are what they are.”